The show is next week, and the Nexus 7 is almost a year old. You do the math.

When we reviewed Google and Asus’ Nexus 7 tablet last summer, we called it a “fantastic $200 tablet.” That assessment still holds true today, but in the year since it was introduced, the 7-to-8-inch tablet space has gotten much more crowded. New Kindle Fires, the iPad mini, and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8.0 are just a few of the high-profile devices that have risen to challenge the Nexus 7 in the last 12 months.

Google’s tablet is still a good value for the dollar, but we’re coming up on this year’s Google I/O conference, and the rumor mill suggests that the company will take the wraps off of a follow-up at its opening-day keynote. After a year of living with the first Nexus tablet, this is what we think should be introduced in its follow-up to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.

The same low price

One of the things that made the Nexus 7 (and Nexus hardware in general) so easy to recommend was its $200 starting price, and it’s still one of the most compelling reasons to give the Nexus 7 a try. The iPad mini has a better tablet app ecosystem, but it starts at a higher $329, and the Kindle Fires start at $159 (for the low-res version) and $199 (for the HD version) but have much more limited software.

We wouldn’t be averse to a small price bump on the Nexus 7, especially if it meant that some of our other wishes could come true, but if Google and its partner can stick to something in the $200 to $249 price range, it will become that much easier to forgive shortcomings.

A need for speed

Phones and tablets get faster every year, and the Nexus 7 is due for a bump.

Andrew Cunningham / Aurich Lawson

The most obvious improvement that we want from a new Nexus 7 is speed. Phone and tablet chips are still seeing sizable performance increases from year to year, and both the Cortex A9-based CPU and the custom GPU in Nvidia’s Tegra 3 are starting to feel a bit long in the tooth. It’s a serious step down from the faster chips that come in both the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10, at any rate.

Current rumors suggest that the new tablet will use one of Qualcomm’s chips, and though we don’t know the specific SoC, Qualcomm has many suitably speedy parts in its portfolio. Whatever’s on the inside, it seems like a sure bet that the new Nexus 7 will leave the old one in the dust.

An improved screen

The current Nexus 7’s screen is actually still pretty good—at 1280×800 and 216 ppi, it’s sharper than the iPad mini (which has both a larger screen and a lower resolution) and the Note 8.0 (which has the same resolution in a larger screen). However, it still doesn’t approach the 300+ ppi of the full-sized iPads or the Nexus 10, to say nothing of the 400+ ppi in this most recent crop of 1080p Android phones.

Are a 1080p screen and $200 price point compatible? Given how common the resolution is becoming in the latest crop of high-end Android phones, it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to hope the answer is yes. If Google could work with its partner to reduce the size of the tablet’s bezels to increase the size of the screen without increasing the tablet’s overall size, that would be even better.

Ars Associate Writer Casey Johnston would also like to see the shape of the screen change a bit. “I'd like a boxier aspect ratio, something closer to 4:3,” she said. “I just don't like 16:10 when the screen is so small.”

More noticeable notifications

There are a few simple features that are standard in the Nexus 4, Nexus 10, and many other phones and tablets that didn’t make it into the Nexus 7, possibly to reduce the price of the tablet—a notification light and a vibration motor. Both of these features give your phone or tablet a way to get your attention that doesn’t require you to actually grab the device and check the notification center (the vibrator motor also enables haptic feedback that vibrates the tablet slightly as you type, a feature I personally enjoy on other devices).

Neither accessory is essential to the operation of the tablet (and it may be that you turn off your notification lights and vibrations anyway), but in a follow-up, we’d like for Google and its lucky partner to work this stuff in, if only to bring some more consistency to the Nexus lineup.

A rear-facing camera

The current Nexus 7 only has a (low-quality) front-facing camera, and it includes no rear-facing camera at all. I’m often the first person to decry those who use their tablets to take photos, but that doesn’t mean that one wouldn’t occasionally be convenient.

“I know it feels more than a little conspicuous to be waving a tablet around to take pictures of something,” said Johnston, “but sometimes your cat is doing something cute in your lap and you can't reach your phone.”

Speakers you’d actually want to hear

It’s just about physically impossible to integrate good speakers into anything as small as a phone or tablet, but even so, it wouldn’t be hard to one-up the Nexus 7’s single, quiet, rear-facing speaker. The iPad mini includes a pair of speakers, and while the quality isn’t great, I can say from personal experience that it’s perfectly suitable for filling a small room with some background music. We like to hold the Nexus 7. We like to look at the Nexus 7. If we could like listening to it, so much the better.

Mobile broadband and more storage at launch

When Google launched the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 in November, the company also spruced up the Nexus 7: the $199 8GB model was tossed out in favor of a $199 16GB model, a higher-capacity 32GB model was added for $249, and $299 would get you a 32GB model with 3G connectivity.

That was all well and good, but these are all options we’d like to see introduced at launch, when the early adopters (the most vocal advocates for any ecosystem) can benefit from them. The 8GB of flash in the original entry-level Nexus 7 also had another adverse effect beyond its small size—the small amount of NAND also had a major impact on the tablet’s performance, as we outlined in our report about the updated Nexus 7.

That’s what we’d like to see in the next Nexus, but is there anything we missed? Let us know what you think, and if we can get enough input we’ll publish a follow-up article with your opinions next week before Google I/O gets going.

Andrew Cunningham
Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue. Twitter@AndrewWrites

Smaller bezel. The screen size is fine but my thumbs do NOT rest on the bezel without touching the screen. As it is I think my hands are a fairly common size and it's just slightly uncomfortable to hold the Nexus 7 one handed - hand on the back with fingers/thumb on the edges (not bezel). Smaller would allow it to fit more hands. I'd say larger bezel would work just as well but I like being able to pocket my Nexus 7 (rear pants pocket - yes really) and a larger bezel would preclude that. This alone might prompt me to purchase a new version.

That's how I hold it, and losing the side bezel would make it more comfortable to hold and make the whole device smaller and lighter. Obviously that wouldn't work for those who like to hold it by the bezel.

I'm interested in the Samsung Mega 6.3 for just this reason; while it's probably too big as a phone, it might make a very nice mini-tablet.

First-party accessories available on launch day. It was ridiculous that the dock (a seriously complicated piece of technology, we all agree) took six months to reach market. Nexus 10 is still way behind in this, so I don't have a lot of hope for the 2013 line of Google products, but if Apple can do it...

I'd argue that they should keep the same form factor as the existing 7 and leverage what accessories exist for it.

It's stupid that the 4, 7 and 10 all have different (or no) pogo pins. One of the often-forgotten points in Apple's favour is that hardware accessory ecosystem that allowed you buy a dock and have the reasonable expectation that it'll work with every iDevice. That's not a reasonable expectation for Android devices, but why the hell to do the Xoom, Nexus 7 and 10 all have different pogo-pin arrangements? Whose bright idea was that one?

It's stupid that the 4, 7 and 10 all have different (or no) pogo pins. One of the often-forgotten points in Apple's favour is that hardware accessory ecosystem that allowed you buy a dock and have the reasonable expectation that it'll work with every iDevice. That's not a reasonable expectation for Android devices, but why the hell to do the Xoom, Nexus 7 and 10 all have different pogo-pin arrangements? Whose bright idea was that one?

This. I was disappointed to see that the pogo layout was different for my Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 10. Just as it seemed that we were (outside of Apple) getting MicroUSB as the standard for all charging too...

The only thing I really want is a better battery/longer battery life. Everything else is fine for my needs.

I love it more than my nexus 10 (haven't turned it on in months) and my smart phone (thinking about going back to a feature phone cause the n7 has replaced it for everything but phone calls and texts - when the n7 isn't charging that is, sigh).

I understand the speaker complaints but I use BT stereo headphones so the speaker never gets used anyway.

First-party accessories available on launch day. It was ridiculous that the dock (a seriously complicated piece of technology, we all agree) took six months to reach market. Nexus 10 is still way behind in this, so I don't have a lot of hope for the 2013 line of Google products, but if Apple can do it...

I'd argue that they should keep the same form factor as the existing 7 and leverage what accessories exist for it.

It's stupid that the 4, 7 and 10 all have different (or no) pogo pins. One of the often-forgotten points in Apple's favour is that hardware accessory ecosystem that allowed you buy a dock and have the reasonable expectation that it'll work with every iDevice. That's not a reasonable expectation for Android devices, but why the hell to do the Xoom, Nexus 7 and 10 all have different pogo-pin arrangements? Whose bright idea was that one?

I've been saying for years that everything required for a "standard dock connector" is already here; it just requires someone big (like Google or Samsung) to mandate it: micro-USB + micro-HDMI right next to each other, spaced a specific distance apart, on the same edge of the case. For phones, that would be the bottom in portrait mode, and for tablets that would be the bottom in landscape mode.

If every phone manufacturer followed those two simple rules (same edge, same distance apart), then everybody and their dog could create docks, accessories, and what-not for any phone or tablet.

No "pogo pins" required, no fancy "dock connector" required, no proprietary cables required. And everyone (phone manufacturers, accessory makers, etc) would just compete on the merits of their products.

Yeah, pipe dream, I know. The solution is just too simple, and would benefit customers more than companies.

Seriously those are the things you can come up with? They are not even in my top5:

What the nexus needs are- a gorilla glass covered screen that doesn't scratch and shatter when you look at it badly- a metallic back that doesn't feel as cheap and doesn't pop off when you press on the sides- it needs to shed a few mm thickness - a much much better file sync for Mac - it should be a bit bigger, not 10inch but with all those 5" phones out the original size is a bit...

Essentially I would like an ipad mini with a better screen and android that would be perfect.

I'm pretty chuffed with my 16GB Nexus. It was bought at launch by a mate, who decided he'd rather have a mini (he buys just about every gadget known to mankind at some point) right around the time Google knocked $50 off the price. $130 later, and it had a new home.

There are only a couple of things I'd have liked to see on the Nexus. I'd have loved it to have a microSD slot, but I worked around that with a USB OTG cable and Homesoft's Nexus Media Importer, which can mount a USB flash drive and make its contents available without needing to root the device.

My only remaining wish would be that Asus/Google gets their head out of their arse and figures out charging from Apple chargers. We have several 1 Amp Iphone chargers about, plus one 2.1A iPad charger, and the Nexus doesn't charge worth a damn from any of them. It looks like it's pulling no more than 500mA or so, which effectively trickle charges the battery, and appears incapable of fully charging the damn thing.

I'm pretty chuffed with my 16GB Nexus. It was bought at launch by a mate, who decided he'd rather have a mini (he buys just about every gadget known to mankind at some point) right around the time Google knocked $50 off the price. $130 later, and it had a new home.

There are only a couple of things I'd have liked to see on the Nexus. I'd have loved it to have a microSD slot, but I worked around that with a USB OTG cable and Homesoft's Nexus Media Importer, which can mount a USB flash drive and make its contents available without needing to root the device.

My only remaining wish would be that Asus/Google gets their head out of their arse and figures out charging from Apple chargers. We have several 1 Amp Iphone chargers about, plus one 2.1A iPad charger, and the Nexus doesn't charge worth a damn from any of them. It looks like it's pulling no more than 500mA or so, which effectively trickle charges the battery, and appears incapable of fully charging the damn thing.

It's a proprietary system where the iDevice interrogates the charger for more than the USB spec of 500 mA. Other manufacturers have implemented it; however, you have to have the manufacturer specific wall charger.

I'm pretty chuffed with my 16GB Nexus. It was bought at launch by a mate, who decided he'd rather have a mini (he buys just about every gadget known to mankind at some point) right around the time Google knocked $50 off the price. $130 later, and it had a new home.

There are only a couple of things I'd have liked to see on the Nexus. I'd have loved it to have a microSD slot, but I worked around that with a USB OTG cable and Homesoft's Nexus Media Importer, which can mount a USB flash drive and make its contents available without needing to root the device.

My only remaining wish would be that Asus/Google gets their head out of their arse and figures out charging from Apple chargers. We have several 1 Amp Iphone chargers about, plus one 2.1A iPad charger, and the Nexus doesn't charge worth a damn from any of them. It looks like it's pulling no more than 500mA or so, which effectively trickle charges the battery, and appears incapable of fully charging the damn thing.

The leaked specs look good to me. I just hope the build quality is a little higher this time. Mine has a bit of screen lift and the multi-touch issue was never addressed by google or asus.

Quote:

According to Duarte, including microSD slots makes things “confusing for users.” He brought up a litany of questions that come along with using microSD cards on mobile devices – “If you’re saving photos, videos or music, where does it go? Is it on your phone? Or on your card? Should there be a setting? Prompt everytime?” – and concluded that they just make things too complicated.

I have that problem with my desk. It has all these pesky drawers. I can't figure out which one I should put something in. Also, I would much prefer if my house only had one room. I can never figure out which one I need to sit in. How do people do it? I need someone to prompt me every time.

Having fully switched from an iPad to a Nexus 7, I'd like to see the following:

- Don't make it any bigger! It fits in my jeans pockets right now, it fits in my wife's purse right now, and it's the perfect size. I'd like to see something closer to a 4:3 ratio, but if it's at the cost of making it any wider, I'll take what it is now. The iPad Mini fits none of the places the N7 fits.- A DPI bump on the screen is certainly going to be a nice feature. It's a good screen now, but it's not an excellent screen.- Faster CPU, more RAM. The difference between 1GB RAM on the Nexus 7 and 2GB on the Nexus 4 is noticeable with regards to how often Chrome reloads pages & such.- Better GPS. The Nexus 7 GPS is very good, but the Nexus 4 blows it away. I play Ingress. This matters to me. - Slightly bigger battery. Go 1-2mm thicker and add moar battery.

Really, I'd be happy with a resolution bump, CPU/RAM bump to meet/exceed the Nexus 4, and the same form factor it currently has.

We need more refugees such as yourself to help the lost out there. It ain't about bias but logic and practicality.

I love my 1st Gen 8GB Nexus 7, my daughter loves her 32GB model. Neither need a camera, the bezel is perfect (mine gets used as an e-reader most of the time, where you NEED the bezel). The ability to add storage via MicroSD is unnecessary. I think this is one case where the tech doesn't need to be updated. Seriously, the Nexus is pretty damn good as it is.

A 1080p screen and more RAM with a speedier quad core chip wouldn't hurt, oh, and wireless N wouldn't hurt either. A rear facing camera is designed for phones mainly because of portability and convenience. A kickstand of some sort would be kind of nice but isn't essential..

A 1080p screen and more RAM with a speedier quad core chip wouldn't hurt, oh, and wireless N wouldn't hurt either. A rear facing camera is designed for phones mainly because of portability and convenience. A kickstand of some sort would be kind of nice but isn't essential..

The current n7 already supports 802.11n, I do agree that supporting the 5 ghz band would be desirable though.

I've read through those links and they all seem to suggest issues with either apps or perhaps an android update. As far as i can make out none of them suggest an issue with the actual battery itself. What am I not understanding here?

I've read through those links and they all seem to suggest issues with either apps or perhaps an android update. As far as i can make out none of them suggest an issue with the actual battery itself. What am I not understanding here?

It is usually a software issue, my 16gb model had major battery issues but disabling currents sorted that out for me.

Of course there are going to be some unfortunate people with hardware issues though, so never discount anything.

Front-facing speakers should be the new norm for just about everything. Fear-facing speakers need to die.

I don't think fear-facing speakers are that afraid to die. But on a serious note, something needs to be done with the speakers. Depending on what you're doing (i.g. watching a video), the audio is difficult to hear at best, almost incomprehensible at worst. I actually just bought a bluetooth sound bridge to stream audio to the soundbar when I'm in my bed room, but that only helps when I'm in my bed room.

According to Duarte, including microSD slots makes things “confusing for users.” He brought up a litany of questions that come along with using microSD cards on mobile devices – “If you’re saving photos, videos or music, where does it go? Is it on your phone? Or on your card? Should there be a setting? Prompt everytime?” – and concluded that they just make things too complicated.

WHAT IS THERE TO BE CONFUSED ABOUT? I am unable to rightly comprehend the confusion here.

Yes to SD support. And let's have a FULL SIZE slot, shall we? I'm tired of spending more for micro-SD cards when there's plenty of room for a larger, full size socket.

And if you can't figure out how to store or copy files to the SD card, nobody is forcing you to use it. Actually, I would like to see some sort of mechanism for transparently storing files on the SD card: maybe using symbolic links or something. Then just give us a file manager with a button that says "move this folder to SD".

Front-facing speakers should be the new norm for just about everything. Fear-facing speakers need to die.

I don't think fear-facing speakers are that afraid to die. But on a serious note, something needs to be done with the speakers. Depending on what you're doing (i.g. watching a video), the audio is difficult to hear at best, almost incomprehensible at worst. I actually just bought a bluetooth sound bridge to stream audio to the soundbar when I'm in my bed room, but that only helps when I'm in my bed room.

It also only works for music or podcasts. There's enough lag in A2DP that you can't use it for video.

I've read through those links and they all seem to suggest issues with either apps or perhaps an android update. As far as i can make out none of them suggest an issue with the actual battery itself. What am I not understanding here?

To be quite honest: if it's purely a software issue, this still lies squarely on Android's (and therefore Google's) shoulders. The OS should be designed so that when it goes to sleep, it really goes to sleep. It should also give users better control over what tasks are running and give users the ability to prevent tasks from starting up. There should be no "sacred cows" on an Android device, with the exception of software that is literally needed just to make the machine run. Users should be able to freeze and/or uninstall ANY app, including ones supplied by the manufacturer, and devices should show an easy to use menu that shows which apps are using the most power and are keeping the device awake when you think it's asleep.

To be quite honest: if it's purely a software issue, this still lies squarely on Android's (and therefore Google's) shoulders. The OS should be designed so that when it goes to sleep, it really goes to sleep. It should also give users better control over what tasks are running and give users the ability to prevent tasks from starting up. There should be no "sacred cows" on an Android device, with the exception of software that is literally needed just to make the machine run. Users should be able to freeze and/or uninstall ANY app, including ones supplied by the manufacturer, and devices should show an easy to use menu that shows which apps are using the most power and are keeping the device awake when you think it's asleep.

Right but if it's purely a software issue then it's something that can be addresses in current Nexus devices. Indeed, if it were improved in a future device I'd be very annoyed if they didn't back port the improvements.

Oh, and besides a Gorilla Glass 2 screen, the Nexus 10's GPS receives GLONASS (ex-Soviet Russian GNSS) signals. I'm sure I'll get a Nexus 10 at some point, but I doubt it will be as ubiquitously portable as my Nexus 7, and along with the 5GHz 802.11n antenna(s) and radio(s), I'd like to see Gorilla Glass and GLONASS on the next Nexus 7.

ipad has dpi of 264, not over 300.Besides that, I don't disagree with anything other than the need for a rear facing camera. I'm just not aware of a compelling use case for it, and I'd rather that money go towards extra storage, better screen, larger battery, or better build quality.Any of those would be more welcome, I think, to the average consumer.

If the side bezels were reduced to almost nothing, you could palm the thing more like a phone. Then there would be no need for a bezel to rest your thumb. I like the screen size of the Nexus 7 but think the tablet is too big overall.

I know that last one will have critics, but after damaging my microUSB port on a previous phone, and now using the induction charger for the N4, I'm completely sold on the convenience and usability of the tech.

Google should make a stylish, optional charging pad that sits on a coffee or end table.

I'd like more Nexus devices. I want something that can beat my Note 2 or even the GS4 in power. Keep the $200-250 devices and add a high end one for those who want to pay for it. afaik, unless you want some Apple dreck, you can't get a tablet that matches the power of last years top end smartphones.(Note 2, GS3, HTC One *)

When the N7 first launched, Tegra 3 was the third best SoC you could find, and limited mostly by the lack of a dual-channel memory controller (which the SGS Exynos and Qualcomm Snapdragon had). The GPU was also somewhat slower than the SGS3's GPU.

All in all, considering the price difference, they did an acceptable compromise using the Tegra 3 SoC instead of a Qualcomm/Exynos SoC: it wasn't the fastest, but it was fast enough.